A lost blessing……

Today we had our annual foot washing and communion service. It was one of the most memorable communion services I can remember.  The church has been “preparing” to take communion for several weeks. Dad has been teaching on the necessity of  communion and foot washing. Especially foot washing. I mean, who doesn’t like taking communion???? I know it’s a gruesome thought.. The blood and the body. But the wonderful feeling that comes over you as soon as you take it is incomparable. But FOOTWASHING!!!!  Has never been my favorite. However I’ve been listening these last few weeks about the importance of it. And even though I’ve been born and raised in Pentecost. I still learned so much.  Today dad preached on Pure Focus on Jesus. How communion is 100 % about Christ. We will never be worthy, never be good enough, never have reached a place where we don’t need communion.  I have to pause for a moment and say. My daddy is the best preacher in the world!!!! I have NEVER in my 24 years been bored. Not on wednesday nights, Sunday nights, even when we were evangelizing!!! Now I could probably quote a few of his sermons… lol. Some of his “favorites”. But I am so glad I’ve never been bored!  Anyways.  I’ve taken communion for as long as I can remember and I’ve always felt the Holy Ghost afterwards, but today it was different somehow. I totally focused on Jesus. I refused to think about how I’ll never be good enough and if I “missed” a sin to repent about and it was AWESOME!!!!! For a brief minute or so it was just Him and me. The rest of the church ceased to exist.  There is no feeling like that!!! I felt clean, renewed, refreshed. I literally felt energy run through my body. It was amazing. So then after we were done with that we separated the men and the women and had foot washing. It was so precious. I know that the Bible says if we don’t partake of foot washing then we have no part of the Father. Thats paraphrasing. So these past few weeks I’ve been praying, God PLEEEEEAAAAASSSEEE  help me learn to LIKE foot washing. Lol. I’m not entirely sure that THAT prayer got answered. BUT. I also prayed for God to lead me. I know I used to in Texas make little groups and not stray outside of my little group year after year after year. lol. Who didn’t??? But this year it wasn’t like that. I washed this newer young ladies feet. She is a sweet young girl and on my part I feel that I had pre judged her before ever getting to know her!!!  Which I HATE when people do to me!!!! So I was standing there and all the sudden it was like God said Go and wash her feet!!! I was SOOOO scared!! As much as I had prayed and asked God to guide me, when He did I was scared!!!  Finally I gave in, and I asked for her forgiveness for any wrong doing on my part, if I had mistreated her, etc… And no at first it wasn’t easy, but it was SO worth it!!!! There was such a sweet spirit.  She had not sensed this, but it still made me feel better. =)  After we were done with that everyone went back to the sanctuary and it was “open mike” for anyone who wanted to speak. It was almost like a family gathering!! I felt like the church was bonding! How can you not feel that way after such a service. As for my title… I know some churches don’t honor this anymore. It’s too hard, too much work, too difficult, too uncomfortable, etc…  I was thinking about this today. How SAD!!!!! I feel sorry for the people that have just let this slide out the back door!!! There is such a blessing in taking communion and foot washing.  I know it’s not the most comfortable feeling in the world… believe me I’m ticklish!!! But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. There are some traditions that I’m very glad we still hold on too!!  I was watching a group of about 5 or 6 young girls.  I mean like 7 and 8 years old. Of course they don’t understand all there is to know about foot washing but they were practicing today!! It was precious! At one point they all went over to my mom and asked if they could wash her feet. And it probably was fun to them but I was BAWLING and it wasn’t even happening to me!!! I know I’m kinda on a soapbox here… but there are some things I refuse to let go of!  I would not trade today for anything.  I got all teary eyes thinking wow that could be my little girl one day.  What a blessing.

Speaking of children… Kung Pow Kitty is growing SO fast!! I want her to stop growing!  My father wants little munchkins… Thats his words.  LOL. I have to admit, I’ve been thinking about children lately. BUT I’m not ready yet!!! Matthews more ready than I am !!! lol. We have switched positions!!  After church today I took mom, dad, and Than to go see our “new place”!!!!!  OOOOOH I can’t wait till we are actually there!! After being in there our apartment feels so small. Lol. And it actually is a very nice apartment. 2 bedrooms 1 bath. A very open floor plan. But still it’s all SO close together. Like the bathroom is within seeing and hearing distance of the kitchen and living room!!!  And is sometimes awkward when we have company. lol. But at the NEW place it’s all the way down the HALL!!! OMWORD I’m GONNA HAVE A HALL!!!!! lol!  The kitchen is so BIG!!! and I have a pantry!!!!! Oh I have died and gone to heaven. Matthews and my bedroom is large enough to have my WHOLE bedset. Sleigh bed, dresser with mirror and 2 night stands in AND out computer etc….  I promise I will put pictures up. Maybe before and after pictures. My mother, who has the most classy taste in decorating is going to help me. I’ve been trying to figure out what my decorating style is … I can’t figure it out!!! I like modern style but with RICH colors! And a little bit of old world style thrown in. I can’t have the whole house look the same. I think I want one room to be animal print. One room totally modern, and one room old world elegance. Hmmm. Do any of you guys know a really good decorating magazine??

Tomorrow I get to start working in Salinas!!! yay! no more trips to Santa Cruz. From Hollister to Santa Cruz it’s like 50 miles which is a longer commute than I would like. But tomorrow I start helping set up the new office. I really believe that God is helping me and also giving me favor with the people I work with.  I absolutely LOVE my job. So far I’ve helped out on several crown deliveries, amalgam, composite, srp, prophy, setting up and breaking down, sterilizing, and I can’t remember what else. I KNOW the steps, but it’s the anticipating the doctors next moves that I’m not quite familiar with yet. However I keep jumping in and asking if I can do this or do that!!! It’s all very exciting. I think my favorite part is taking the X Rays it’s one thing that I am very comfortable with. Boy would my teacher be surprised!!!  I can’t believe how much God is blessing us !!! lol. God gave us this bigger for 125 less apartment, gave me a good paying job, gave Matt a 3 dollar an hour raise, and our landlord said she would give us our deposit back!!!!  God is just too good!!

Thats all folks

 

I hate this time of year!!!!

Now I got all ya’lls attention from my title let me rephrase… I LOVE this time of year but it’s very difficult to eat RIGHT!!!! AAAAH!!! Every where I look there’s fresh baked cookies and pies and cakes and CARBS!!!!! And if you don’t know me I have a enormous sweet tooth!!! I”ve been doing very well with my choices and stuff. But I have to confess. I”m struggling!!! Amanda made chocolate chip cookies tonight! Last night we had dinner at Sis. Gloria’s house, she made the most delicious enchiladas and a chocolate cake that looked sooo sooo soo good!!! I have to figure out the ratio of sugar to stevia or xylatol. And I need to find out what other kind of flour I can use to bake with. I did however find a good recipe for BAKED Jalepeno Peppers. I haven’t tried it yet. However, it sounds delish! Poppers are like one of my favorite snacks but with it being fried… I can’t have them. So I”ll let you know how it is. I did do a really good dish that has become one of my favorite meals. Chicken, Artichokes, and portabella mushrooms. It is SO good. I cook the chicken in olive oil with seasonings. Salt, pepper, accent, oregano, basil, italian seasonings. Just until it’s white. Then I through the sliced mushrooms in there with the chicken. i cook them until they are almost tender. Then in another bowl I put milk, cream, butter, sherry, and 2 Tbs. of rye flour. Then in a pan I layer the artichokes, chicken and portabellas and pour the sauce on top. Bake it and it’s done. It’s delicious!!!! I made it for our youth leaders and they really enjoyed it also. It’s supposed to go with pasta but I do brown rice pasta with it. It tastes just as good. SO thats my new favorite dish. And since my mom had 2 of the same cookbooks I’m getting a lot of new really awesome recipes!!! yay!!! I absolutely love to cook. And I found a “cooking buddy”.

Also I am about to start online school for a degree in Nutritional Science. I’m very excited and it seems like an awesome opportunity! It will take 4 years but I’m hoping that it goes by fast. I can get a job at a hospital, or clinic. And the range of jobs is incredible. Especially knowing how much eating the right foods and feeling so much better by this has helped me, it excites me to be able to help other people. Plus I think it will really help me in my cooking. I could run a restaurant!!! Or a kitchen. It’s all very interesting!!

The other night we had our Christmas Banquet. It was hilarious!!! You can read more about it and see pictures on my moms blog. Mom, Patricia and I tried to do a accapella version of How Majestic Is Your Name. And then suck in helium and sing it again. However we didn’t quite make it through because I was laughing so hard I couldn’t keep the helium in!!!!!! And the n I took the helium and said “Is it working” And it was a high squeaky voice and the whole church lost it!!! Hah! Actually I could only hear my dad!! When he gets really tickled I get really tickled!!! haha. It was a good time had by all! I love fellowshipping with my church they are a fun group of people.

We had a great time during Thanksgiving!!!! We started out at Mom and Dad Silveira’s house. The food was so good!!! It was a smaller gathering of people. Mom, Dad, Grams, Mins, Matt, and me. But it was still lots and lots of fun!!!! Then Uncle Leon and his girlfriend came. It was fun!!! Grams always makes me laugh! You never really have to wonder what she’s thinking because she just tells you. HAH! Then we went over to my parents and it was LOUD!!!! Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Scott, Teresa and their kids, Chanessa and her 4 kids, Gary, Patricia, Josh. whew. Nathaniel had dissapeared by the time we showed up. It was a blast. However the dressing was … a little hard. I was so full from the first dinner I only had a piece of coconut cream pie. I really enjoy having both sets of parents in the same city. It makes the holidays easier. I can’t wait till Christmas!! I really do LOVE this time of year. It is my favorite season. People are nicer, friendlier and more open. For the most part. I did have a lady flip me off over a parking spot the other day!!!! But most people are great. I also love al l the really good shopping deals!! However I am not a big fan of shopping. I know I am a really weird freak of nature. I don’t go shopping just to go shopping. I go if I have money and if there is something that I need. But during the holiday season I do get a shopping bug. But it lasts for like a day. So when it hits me I take advantage of it. The other day I got my Dad, brother, father in law, and brothers gifts at the same shop and it only took like an hour to get all of them!!!! Yay!! I think that my mom is the absolute hardest person to shop for though! I have no idea what to get the woman who has almost everything! So I never get her just ONE gift. Dads easy, Than is easy, Dad2 is easy. Matt is kinda easy. But he likes a lot of different stuff and styles so I’m not always sure he will like what I get. My taste in mens clothes is a bit more wild than his. hah. Mom2 is somewhat simple, but she told us what she wanted so thats not really a surprise!!! Although I haven’t got hers yet. Then Mins’ is the most picky person I know!!! HAHA!!! So I have’n’t gotten her gift yet either. I so enjoy buying for other people. I don’t really enjoy buying for myself as much. Matt summed it up pretty well. I would almost enjoy Christmas better if I could buy for everyone else and not for me. Which is true. If only I was a millionare!!!

So I know I don’t blog near as much as I should. I guess. My new years resolution is to blog more, but we’re not there yet! Hehe…

 

Four Year Anniversary in Hollister

Tomorrow marks the four year anniversary here in Hollister! I cannot believe how quickly time has gone by. So much has happened!! I remember when we tried out for the church, at first I was not for it at all!!!! Then the second service I totally fell in love with the people. I remember I went out to eat with the young people and some of the adults after church and I remember feeling a little weird but they were SO wide open and hilarious!!! I am SO GLAD daddy took this church I can’t imagine being anywhere else!! At first I hung out with the young people a lot!! One of my first friends was Jessica who I miss SO MUCH! We went to youth ralleys, conferences, youth congress, west coast and a lot of other meeting together. However we always ended up going in the wrong direction!!! One year on our way to WestCoast which is in Fresno we got to talking and we were all the through SAN JOSE before we realized we were going NORTH!!!!!! And the same thing happened on the way home! We were like 20 minutes from Bakersfield before we realized we were going SOUTH!!!! We had so many adventures including meeting a VERY goodlooking guy at Youth Congress that GREATLY resembled Orlando Bloom! …. Anyways… very goodlooking …… =)

I also hung out with Matthew and Amanda a LOT! Never imagining that I would one day be married to him. He says he chased me for 2 years before I said yes, I”m not so sure thats how it happened!!! At first the timing wasn’t right and we obeyed our parents and did not talk or hang out for about a year. In that time Matthew made a vow to God that he would pray instead of pursue me. THAT is when I began to notice him. On my way home from work I would see his truck parked at the old church, and in the mornings and on saturdays. I was drawn to that so much, something in me began to change. We started to talk a little here and there …. I still went out with other guys but I would call Matthew and talk to him about my “dates” and things that I liked or didn’t like and he just listened and never spoke bad of anyone. THEN we went on a non date date !!! And he was so funny and cute and such a gentleman!!! We never ran out of things to talk about in fact I think we pretty much got kicked out of the restaurant!!! After that I was hooked!! We dated a WHOLE 3 weeks before he asked me to marry him!!!! <<<<In the middle of the proposal Amanda walked outside and saw what he was doing and said OOOOH NOOOO!!!! LOL!! We have grown to love eachother a lot since then!!! She’s the sister that I never had! Anyways continuing on>>> we had known eachother as friends long enough to know that this is who and what we wanted! It hasn’t all been easy or roses. I had to grow up a LOT!! Him too. But I have never stopped loving Matthew and I think I love him more now than I did the day we got married!! He was so kind to me during all my “illness” and surgery and the HORRIBLE side affects of the medicine I had to take!!! I sometimes still can’t believe I’m married sometimes!! It’s almost been 2 year!

Now that we are married our friends have changed. We hand out more with the married couples in the church than we do the young people! Its kinda weird! But I have always hung out with people older than me. Like Greg and Monya. I miss them! I do wish that God would send some new couples to the church that don’t have kids !! We will eventually have kids but NOT YET!!! I am quite content to just be us two right now. In the time that we have been married I have made some very good friends, some that have been totally unexpected! I can honestly say there is not one person in our church that I do not like!!! Every person in Hollister is dear to my heart. I have people that I can talk to, hang out with, eat with, have over to my house, call just to chat, pray with, have someone pray for me, EVERYTHING !!! And I’ve made many acquaintances and friends in this great CA district!!

A LOT has happened in the 4 years that we have been here. In Hollister yes I am the pastors daughter but I’m also my own person. In Hollister, I have truly become myself, found myself. I have found the place I want to be at until … forever. Unless God calls us elsewhere. I have found the love of my life. I will eventually have children that both sets of parents will spoil to no end. And hopefully the church will love too! I continue to grow and experience. To learn more about the wonderfully amazing God that we serve. I have TRULY found out that God will not put more on you than you can bear. That you will never go hungry, not have a roof over your head, have clothes to wear. God had provided for us so many times. In Hollister I have been broken, shattered to pieces, and then nurtured back to myself and been given even more than I was Spiritually and Physically. Hollister is my home. I love my church. I love what God has done. I miss the people that have left or backslid, and I rejoice for the new people that have come into our church. I cannot name every person that I love or hold dear to my heart. I can’t list everyones attributes and things that I love about you. I love everyone. You are all special to me and will continue to be as long as we are here. Thank you for accepting me!!! Laughing with me or at me, for helping me to become a better person, being there when I needed someone to talk to, praying for me, encouraging me, allowing me to sing to you, letting me be used to pray for you, receiving me, and letting me be ME!!! Happy FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY !!!!!